These teenagers didn't have a dog with them Nettle, they were just walking across the field, they had come up a steep slope and until they were near the top we couldn't see them. This is a problem with this field and I normally try to be along the top of it as much as I can, if I get further down the slope I can't see anyone coming towards the top as it slopes down the other side but not as steeply.

Thankfully Tilly doesn't get close to them, she is still a distance away but jumps up and down barking, I don't take her there weekends because there is often people around but do during the week, when this happened I didn't know it was half term which is why the teenagers were there and not in school or I wouldn't have taken her there.

I really need men to come to my house but it would look very suspicious if I started to ask men to come to my home.

I knew you weren't replying to my post Nettle, it does help if we do explain why have done something which I often forget to do. We all know our dogs better than anyone else and know what will work with them.

In this situation with Tilly, I didn't give her a command because I knew she would ignore it, instead I just offered something nice for her to hear when she started to relax a bit, so didn't put my training into jeopardy.

As these teenagers stood still and didn't move they didn't fuel her fear so she couldn't keep this up and started to relax.

I know this is old but I'm trying to work on recall with the new pup. It's very good outside and occasionally she'll listen outside, but if she's somewhere new or theres more interesting things going on then I've got no chance. She works well for treats in the house but I was thinking something noisier like a squeaky toy that she only gets on walks might be better? Does this sound like a good idea?

She doesn't have squeaky toys in the house because my dogs rip the squeak out of them within 10 minutes, but being terriers I'm sure they love squeaky toys.

My other dogs recall is usually spot on...especially if he knows I've got treats, but if he's got a tennis ball or a stick that he doesn't want to give up then he won't always come back very enthusiastically. I was thinking that having a second toy to hand for these situations might encourage him to come back better?

When I was 'fixing' my pup's recall (we had some 'pup goes crazy on beach' issues) I used squeaky toys, tennis balls, treats, all sorts. Every time she came back she'd get something different, so it was always exciting and never knew what she was going to get. Squeaky toys worked fine, because the bag of special goodies I took with me were ONLY for recall training, not indoors. Scout is a terrier too, and has the same need to rip the insides out of everything when we're at home! On a walk she was much more interested in bringing it back for the next throw, etc.

I did find that sometimes she just wasn't interested in one or two of the toys. If she didn't find them rewarding then there was no point using those ones, and I'd switch them out for something more exciting for her. She also is rarely interested in treats if other animals are around, so they were the lowest of rewards for my pup, while squeaky balls were good for attention getting, but rubber balls to throw were top of everything. Once you get used to what your pup likes best, it'll get easier to be the most exciting thing to her. And as she grows up she'll (probably, in my experience!) become less and less interested in other dogs. When mine was your pup's age, she thought dogs were A M A Z I N G, but now she just thinks they're alright, but she can have more fun with me.

Getting a long line and a harness might be beneficial when teaching all this, too. Good luck! :)

PS!! The one thing that I _MOST_ wish I had done the first time round when teaching recall, was to make sure that grabbing the harness / collar, and having the dog stay with you for a short time was all part of the recall. Originally she just had to come up to me - at which point she'd shoot off again. That's what caused all the problems and made me have to 'fix' it.

Minkee - I'm so glad it's not only me who's "fixing" a terriers recall . Honey will come over, take her treat and dash off. I think I got too predictable with the rewards so there's no rush to see what I have on offer. Just started to build on a new queue, a double lilting whistle. Really hoping I don't mess this one up .

Too keep her near me I've been keeping a few treats tucked in my hand that she tries to get at while I put my hand on her collar. Once I have her collar I let her get the treats.

She's also mad for getting groomed and seems to come over 100% of the time when I say "do you want a brush?" but I always pick my moments before I say it, so I'm wondering if I could do the double whistle as I'm about to brush her to help strengthen the cue? She not very keen on toys (she didn't play AT ALL when she first came to us) and her food drive is only average. She's very into being touched but I'm just not sure if it really is a valuable enough reward.

I'd love to be able to get a rabbit fur lure as she's got a huge prey drive and has demolished any cat toys she's gotten her paws on that have fur on them. This is from a dog who does zero damage to anything tougher then kitchen paper. I just can't seem to find any dog toys with real fur and no one in Ireland hunts rabbits as we nearly lost them all to myxomatosis.

Thanks.
Minkee I like the idea of taking a whole bag of stuff out.
Its just remembering to take it. I have one dog that goes mad for tennis balls, so a few of those, a few squeaky toys and a few treats should do the trick I hope. Makes sense to be more interesting to your dog, mine is more interested in my other dog at the moment, she'll come back when he does, but will have to train her alone as well I think. But her recall is great in the house even if she is in the middle of playing/watching things outside/chewing etc, she just switches off outside. I do ask her to sit, down, etc on walks when she's on her lead, and even then its 50/50 if she'll respond. Don't want to keep repeating commands if she won't do first time though.

I teach my dog to come to me and sit for a treat long enough for me to touch him (usually a stroke of the head, but I can get the collar easily if I need too) I also teach "wait" so I can get him on lead if he's fidgeting and reluctant to sit still, so I'll do same with the pup and hopefully not have problems with disappearing dogs!

Edited to add: Wow that seems like a lifetime ago I posted about Honey she's quite a cooperative lady these days and can even tear up cardboard now Don't get me wrong she's still a terrier and I live in a very busy neighbourhood so she is still "managed" quite a bit but there's no more dashing off after recall, infact she often flips her bum around and sits after she gets her treat so that she can get some loves .